Community workshops have now been run in Hammerfest, Northern Norway; the Outer Hebrides, in Benbecula and Stornoway; and in Tralee, County Kerry.
Well over 200 people from all walks of life have participated in these workshops and breakout sessions provided them with the opportunity of expressing their opinions on a wide range of climate and weather related topics.

These are the first in a series of three workshops to be held in each of the five study sites with the remaining events in southern Iceland taking place in late August. Results from the Outer Hebrides show that severe storms have an effect on community confidence and people associate climate change with negative consequences and threats to their livelihoods.

Rising sea level, coastal erosion, flooding and loss of land were all highlighted as being of particular concern. However, participants identified some opportunities, particularly in tourism, already one of the islands' most important industries. Marine renewable energy was also highlighted as the coast and seas have some of the best wind and wave energy potential in Europe.

One of the opportunities identified, coastal archaeological interpretation as a tourism resource, is to be further investigated by the CoastAdapt team. Information from Orkney will be gathered at a workshop and meetings to be held there in March 2011. The Outer Hebrides will learn from the Orkney experience where archaeology contributes greatly to their economy.